Great Challenges Final Exam

Epidemiology

The study of the distribution and causes of disease at the population level

Epidemiologts do…

Assess health of a population, determine causes of any health problems, and implement & evaluate solutions

John Snow

Demonstrated the spatial clustering of cholera deaths

Why did epidemiology expand beyond epidemics of infectious disease?

Infectious disease was no longer a leading cause of death

What do the results of epidemiologic studies do?

inform public health recommendations and clinical decision making

Endemic

persistent, usual, expected health-related state or event in a defined population over a given period of time

Epidemic

Health-related state or event in a defined population above the expected over a given period of time

Types of epidemic

outbreak- smaller, localized epidemic

pandemic- epidemic affecting a large number of people, many countries, continents, or regions

What are the standard dimensions used to track the occurrence of a disease?

Where (place), when (time), and who (person)

What is essential to epidemiology?

data, knowledge, and action

What is incidence rate?

number of new cases in a specific period of time/number of people in population at risk for the health outcome

What does descriptive epidemiology give?

information on the distribution and magnitude of the disease

What are two categories of epidemiology research?

descriptive- looking at the distribution of disease in terms of person, place, and time. hypothesis generating

analytic- evaluating risk factors for disease. hypothesis testing

Study designs

framework, or the set of methods and procedures used to collect and analyze data

Epidemiological hypothesis

a proposed explanation for a specific pattern or trend observed in health-related data, aiming to identify possible causal factors or relationships

Epidemiological studies

critical research strategies used to investigate the distribution and determinatns of health-related states or events in specific populations, which aids in the understanding and control of diseases

Cross-sectional studies (descriptive)

researchers observe and collect data without intervening

data is collected from a sample at one specific moment in time

they measure the prevalence at that moment

Cohort studies (analytical)

start with an “at-risk” population - no one has the disease yet, but anyone can get it

compare incidence of the outcome of interest in the two exposure groups - does one group get more disease than the other?

Case-control studies (analytical)

an observational research method that compares two groups to identify past exposures that are associated with a current disease or outcome

Intervention study

interfering with the outcome or course, especially of a condition or process

preventive: education and skill-building workshop, social support/network building, screening, vaccines, environmental change

therapeutic: antibiotics, insulin

What is PERIE?

problem, etiology, recommendations, implementation, and evaluation. It is used to systematically identify, analyze, and address health issues in a community by first defining the problem, then finding its causes (etiology), developing solutions (recommendations), putting those solutions into action (implementation), and finally, assessing how well the interventions worked (evaluation).